


Maybe You're the Right Thing After All

by kayromantic



Category: Dawson's Creek
Genre: F/M, canon-ish AU, friends with benefits where the benefits were completely by accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 06:51:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20403490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayromantic/pseuds/kayromantic
Summary: She was used to the lie. He was down to deny. But they have slept together three times and have refused to talk about it even once.





	Maybe You're the Right Thing After All

**Author's Note:**

> This story was unofficially sponsored by one too many listens of Carly Rae Jepsen's Dedicated album. Also how good is Stevie Wonder's discography?
> 
> As always, special thanks to Sara ([@satelliteinasupernova](https://archiveofourown.org/users/satelliteinasupernova/pseuds/satelliteinasupernova)) for the once over, support and putting up with me. If you are also into Riverdale and Bughead in particular, please check her out.

Joey laid flat on her back and stared up, and pretended to count the creases in the ceiling that she could not see. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will herself to wake up, desperately hoping that she was dreaming.

She felt the mattress shift beneath her, reminding her that she was not alone and not dreaming.

This was definitely not like her. Joey Potter did not do casual sex. She was definitely a “Only a steady, stable relationship and never within the first month” kind of girl. She felt her “guest” turn beside her and she swallowed her breath.

Actually, the issue was that this fling might not have been casual at all. While Joey was definitely not in a relationship at the moment, this was not the first time this had happened. It was the third. And for the third time, she had the distinct feeling that she had once again potentially thrown a ten year (honestly longer) friendship down the drain.

Joey Potter does not _just_ sleep with Pacey Witter.

And she certainly did not just sleep with him three times, but that seemed to be the predicament she found herself in. The first time had been an obvious mistake. They were at a party of a mutual acquaintance and they had both gotten a bit too tipsy and one thing lead to the other. A blip that would not and could not be repeated.

The second time, alcohol was not involved but Joey had been having a very bad day and was looking to let out some steam and though it was probably ill-advised to sleep with an ex to relieve stress, she could say that it had for a moment made her feel better. At least until the next morning when she realized what she’d done.

But last night—last night was different. No one was drunk and her day and mood had been fine. It had been just like every other day, after work she headed to Pacey’s bar. How Pacey had come to own and successfully run a working class pub in the middle of Manhattan, Joey wasn’t exactly sure, but she enjoyed the place quite a bit. Of course being that this was Pacey, she couldn’t help but give him a hard time about it.

Which is what she had been doing last night as he walked her home from the bar as he usually did. (“You don’t need to,” she would always say and Pacey would make some excuse like it’s fine, he just needed some air.)

“I mean come on you have to agree that the music is outdated and old at best,” Joey said as they entered into her apartment. She plopped into the couch while Pacey went to the kitchen to retrieve the night cap—which was just beer, as neither Joey nor her roommate were likely to keep liquor in the apartment.

“The music is fine,” Pacey said, handing Joey a bottle, “No one else has complained.”

“I’m just saying, you’ve had that bar for what, three years now?” Joey said, “And you haven’t changed a thing. You’re never going to attract new patrons if you keep the music and the decor in the dark ages.”

Pacey let out a gruff sigh.

“What’s the problem with the decor?” Pacey asked, “I like it.”

“Pacey, it looks like a truck stop from the seventies. Have you been to any other bar in the city? They have color and are clean and slick—”

“And most of them close down within six months. My place has been around for 30 years,” Pacey said.

“I’m just saying, maybe spruce it up a bit,” Joey said, “play a song that was recorded after 1985, replace the Budweiser sign,” Joey said, “maybe add something to the menu that hasn’t been deep-fried seven ways from Sunday.”

Pacey scoffed again and took a large sip from the bottle, before leisurely leaning back into the sofa, completely comfortable and relaxed as if he lived there. Joey flashed briefly back to the last night that they had been _together_, but pushed it aside quickly. She didn’t want to think about that.

“So let me get this straight, you don’t like the music, the decor, or the food at my bar. Is there anything that you do like.”

Joey’s response was automatic, and maybe if she had thought about it for at least two seconds she would realize that it was probably a mistake in light of recent events, but she was in the groove of the conversation and she was just so comfortable at the moment that it didn’t even occur to her the possible implications.

She allowed a brief moment of silence to pretend to think really hard as if grasping for an answer before finally making eye contact with him and said, clearly and plainly while slightly nodding her head:

“The company.”

She didn’t know who made the first move or what had spawned what came next, whether it was the way she had tucked her hair behind her ears or how she couldn’t help but notice the way that Pacey bit at his lip, but in an instant, they had closed the distance between them and kissing as if that had been the plan all along.

She was almost breathless when she asked him whether he could stay, and he had said yes and it had all just flowed from there.

What were we thinking?

Fully back in the present, Joey whispered a brief obscenity. They probably needed to talk about this, sort it all out. _But was there anything to sort out?_ Joey didn’t know exactly how she felt about the matter. She couldn’t say that she had never thought about it in the intervening years since their break up at the end of high school. There were even moments when she admitted to herself that she really wanted it.

But did he want it?

Joey thought that she knew Pacey pretty well, but that didn’t mean she could tell what he was thinking. He hadn’t said much last night outside of the incoherent mutterings words she could not understand.

Joey gulped and reached out an arm to pull her phone off the nightstand by the bed and quickly checked the time. Five AM. She woke up earlier than usual, but she reasoned that there was no way she would go back to sleep, so she quietly slid out of bed and crept to the bathroom. Pacey didn’t even move.

She took her time through the shower, trying to compose her thoughts as she let the warm water run down her back. Joey couldn’t deny the truth of the situation. What had happened last night, she had wanted it to happen for whatever reason. All three times, she had initiated it (ok maybe last night it had been more of a mutual thing, but Joey couldn’t lie and say that she probably started it and she had asked him to stay after all).

Joey needed to figure out what she had to say to fix the situation. Get them back to where they were._ Do you want to go back?_ A nagging voice sneered inside of her but she shook her head at that.

Of course, she wanted that. They just had to get through the awkwardness of talking about it.

Her nerves had somewhat calmed by the time she had gotten out of the shower, tucked herself in a white terry cloth bathrobe hanging on the door. She was still running a towel through her damp hair when she walked out to see Pacey’s back towards her as he pulled the sleeves of the shirt he had been wearing last night back in before slipping it back on.

Joey felt the heat rise to her cheeks at the image and the memory of how it felt to be beneath him. He really was more attractive than a lot of people gave him credit for.

Pacey turned around as he finished buttoning up the shirt and for a long moment they just stared at each other. Joey wished that he would say something, broach the subject, start the conversation. Pacey was always good at that, forging ahead, acting and doing things. She had always envied him for it.

And for a brief second, Joey thought he was going to do it. Say something that would break the tension and let them off the hook, but instead he just shot her a small smile and shrugged a bit. It was almost like a reset, as if he just happened to be there in her bedroom and they hadn’t just slept together. As if everything was like it always was.

“I have to go,” he said, “I have to do inventory at the bar this morning.”

Joey nodded, still lacking in courage to not go along with the easy banter.

“Okay,” was all she was able to muster.

“We still have that thing for Friday, right?” Pacey asked and Joey blanked for a moment as to what he was referring to before she remembered that she had a fundraising gala for work that she had invited him too.

“Yeah,” Joey said, “it’s still on.”

Pacey nodded.

“Good. I guess I’ll see you later,” Pacey said and as he backed out of the room, casually as if it was nothing at all, leaving Joey weakly waving her hand goodbye.

She leaned back against the door frame and let out a large sigh.

Sothey just weren’t going to talk about it then.

  
Joey was on auto-pilot all throughout work, not able to handle a conversation that was more than a simple greeting or a question about an actual task. She spent most of her time going through the backlog of submissions, trying to weed out the automatic rejections since she didn’t think she could focus enough to work through any manuscript in any real way.

The only real conversation she had during the entire day was when her boss, Angela came in to ask a question about an upcoming release and some other inconsequential work related matter, but then as usual segwayed into complaining about everything but work: her brother, her landlord, her ex-husband, her love life. Joey only half listened until Angela repeated her name a couple of times.

“I’m sure it’s easy for you.”

Joey looked up from the page that she had been blankly staring at for the past ten minutes.

“Finding a man, I am sure you have no problem finding one.”

Joey doesn’t correct her, she just shrugged and turned back to the pages on her desk.

“You have a date for the gala on Friday?”

Joey nodded, although her date was the last thing that she wanted to think about at the moment. She liked Angela well enough, they got along together, but Joey sometimes wished that the other woman wouldn’t always assume that she could just vent to Joey about every little problem and inconvenience of her life.

Or maybe Joey was just jealous because she didn’t really have that right now. The person she would usually turn to for advice or just a friendly word was…well it was Pacey. And she couldn’t ask him what to do about the situation. He had left that morning so casually as if a talk wasn’t needed.

Joey waited for Angela to leave before letting out a groan and softly banged her head against the desk in frustration. She was back at square one.

Joey couldn’t remember much from the rest of her workday, only that she felt like she wanted to collapse into her bed and just not think about anything. However, she heard the rumble from her apartment as soon as she stepped out of the elevator into the hallway to learn that any sort of rest or solace would be impossible.

She wasn’t surprised to find her roommate, Darcy, on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee towel, dangerously close to an open nail polish container that Joey could see going wrong at any moment, slightly tapping her finger against the issue of Cosmopolitan that she was reading to the beat of some sort of techno-jazz rhythm blaring from the stereo. Darcy didn’t acknowledge Joey as she walked by (whether she was ignoring her deliberately or just couldn’t hear her, Joey didn’t know or care). What counted for relaxing on Darcy’s weekly “veg” days as she called them, was barely relaxing for anyone else.

But Joey had become somewhat accustomed to her roommates eccentricities, and she was going to just grab a water from fridge and put on her headphones to try and drown out the racket like she always did, but she stopped just short of going into her bedroom.

Darcy, Joey thought, was more experienced in a lot of things including one night flings, and if she really needed someone to bounce ideas off, maybe her exuberant, extroverted roommate would do the trick.

It couldn’t make things any worse or confusing than they already were.

Joey turned around and without even a word hit the pause button on the stereo and wait for Darcy to protest, which she did promptly.

“Hey!”

“Can I ask you a question?” Joey asked, cutting straight to the point.

“Sure. Man, you must be in a mood,” Darcy said, throwing her magazine to the side.

Joey didn’t say anything to Darcy’s comment, just sat in the chair to the side.

“It’s normal to sleep with an ex, right? It doesn’t have to mean anything,” Joey wasn’t sure she was clear, but she needed to get this conversation done without revealing too much of the specifics of the situation. She would never hear the end of it otherwise.

“What, like a backslide?” Darcy asked, “Of course that means nothing, I just backslid with that guy Kevin from The Deco last week. He learned some new moves.”

Joey held back the urge to roll her eyes, she did not want the intimate details of Darcy’s sex life, so she quickly moved on to keep them on the topic on hand.

“So I shouldn’t worry about it,” Joey said.

“Of course not, also you have been due for that. I figured you and Ted would have jumped back into months ago,” Darcy said.

_Ted?_ It took Joey a moment to remember that Ted was actually her last boyfriend.

“Oh no,” Joey said, “I haven’t seen Ted since we broke up, and that’s been a year now.”

By the look on Darcy’s face, Joey could tell she was getting a bit annoyed, and Joey for a split second wondered whether it was too late to take that line back. Maybe it would be better if Darcy did think it was her last boyfriend. But that wouldn’t help in the long run.

“Oh whatever, it doesn’t matter. Don’t freak out about it like you always do,” Darcy said, “I am at least glad that you, Little Miss High and Mighty knows how to have a little bit of fun.”

Joey shook her head.

“I know how to have fun. I’m just not used to…”

“Sleeping with a man without discussing their future business plans and a look at their investment portfolio?”

“I don’t do that!” Joey could tell Darcy was buying it so she bowed her head, “it was just that one time, and to be fair he asked for mine first.”

“Right,” Darcy said, picking her magazine back up, but Joey wasn’t done.

“What if it wasn’t just the once and what if the ex wasn’t that recent?” Joey asked, “Is that normal?”

Darcy eyed Joey in a way that unsettled Joey. She really should have rethought this idea of seeking confidence of a person she basically just tolerated day to day.

“Oh Joey, please tell me you haven’t slept with that filmmaker friend of yours, the one you used to share a bed with like it was a VC Andrews novel. He’s so pretentious.”

Joey grimaced.

“Dawson? No I haven’t seen Dawson since summer. He’s in L.A., besides he’s been seeing this girl, Cathy for six months. I think it’s pretty serious,” Joey said.

Darcy threw her head back in frustration.

“Oh my god, I always forget how exhausting your love life is,” Darcy said.

Joey stood up and threw her hands up in frustration, this was becoming increasingly pointless.

“Sorry I asked,” Joey said

Joey could feel Darcy’s stare that suggested that she was probably overreacting. This was just the way her roommate was. She knew that when she started the conversation.

“It’s not Dawson, it’s just it’s—”

“How many times?” Darcy suddenly asked.

Joey looked up and stared down her roommate for a moment as if she was a literal deer in the headlights.

“What?”

“How many times have you slept with Pacey?” Darcy asked and Joey tensed.

She wished she could lie, and say it was someone else. But truth was Joey knew she wasn’t that good a liar. She shuffled her feet and sighed.

“Three.”

Darcy nodded and retrieved her phone and wordless began to tap at it as if she had just decided to do something else. Joey was confused.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m placing an ad for a new roommate,” Darcy said.

Joey tried to reach for the phone out of Darcy’s hand but she held it back.

“It’s not like that,” Joey said, “We’re not together….You just said a back-slide is normal.”

Darcy huffed.

“Yes, sleeping with an ex you haven’t seen in a while or just recently broken up with is normal. Sleeping three times with the guy who you see everyday, who is your first emergency contact, and who is called over at 2 am to fix a leaky faucet and then stealing someone’s super expensive hand lotion that they got in Paris is not a back-slide.”

“I told you he didn’t steal that hand lotion,” Joey said, knowing that was the least important part of that sentence.

“I’m just saying—” Darcy said.

“We’re not getting back together,” Joey said, “Pacey, he hasn’t said anything and I—”

Joey didn’t know what she wanted. She didn’t know if she was ready for anything at the moment and with Pacey. It was just too large and big.

“Look if it bothers you that much, and you’re not trying to get back together, then the one thing I would suggest for you to do is to not sleep with him again,” Darcy said.

Joey nodded.

“And honestly with the two of you, I would avoid one on one, intimate moments as well,” Darcy said.

The logic was sound. Maybe if they just took a break, only met in public when there were others around, whatever this was that led to the ‘sleepovers’ for lack of a better term would just pass by and things could go back to normal.

“Right,” Joey said.

Darcy, satisfied that that was sorted, turned back to her magazine, and Joey just stood taking a moment to calm herself. She had a plan, it was simple. The calm was interrupted when she felt the faint vibrations of the phone inside her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at it to see the bright notification to pick up her dress from the dry cleaners for the gala.

The Gala.

“Crap,” Joey couldn’t help but yell when she remembered that there was an automatic hitch in the new solution to her problem.

“What is it?”

“I have this thing for work, Pacey is going with me,” Joey said.

“Why is he going with you?” Darcy asked.

“Because we always do. If we’re both single and something is happening, we are each other’s plus ones,” Joey said, “I completely forgot.”

Darcy shook her head.

“Just cancel,” Darcy said.

“I can’t. I have to make an appearance, and if I tell Pacey he can’t go he’ll want to know why,” Joey said, “which is exactly what I don’t want.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to just talk to him about it,” Darcy asked, “I mean instead of overthinking it like you always do.”

Joey didn’t have an answer for that, and just waved off Darcy who, having grown frustrated with the conversation, threw her own hands up before moving to place her phone down. Unfortunately, she knocked the open bottle of nail polish on the floor and both she and Joey cursed at the mess.

It did however break the tension and bring the conversation to a fortunate end. Joey rolled her eyes as Darcy scrambled to clean the spilled polish off the coffee table.

Joey stood there solemnly for a moment, allowing the exhaustion from the day and the stress to wash over her before she was kicked out of it when the loud music resumed from the living room. She couldn’t really relax with the music so she busied herself by picking up assorted things off the floor and straightening up. So unnerved by what had happened the previous night, Joey had rushed out the door for work without tidying up as she usually did.

She was just about finished and fixing to collapse on the bed when her fingers scraped against a medal band when she had moved to throw one last shirt to the dirty clothes pile. Her brow furrowed as she leaned down for a closer look.

It was a watch. Pacey’s watch. The watch she’d given him. She glanced at the nightstand to a photo she had taken a couple years back and she allowed her mind to wander.

  
Joey gleefully held her tongue as she snapped, unbeknownst to Pacey, a candid photo of him behind the counter, wiping a tumbler with a towel. He looked up at her and sighed when she was unable to tuck her phone back into her jacket in time.

“Please tell me you didn’t take a photo,” he said.

“Just one,” Joey said, “to commemorate the occasion.”

Pacey shook his head.

“We haven’t opened yet, I still need the liquor license to go through.”

“Just a formality,” Joey assured, “I can’t believe this place is actually yours. It’s sort of hard to believe, It feels like just yesterday you were bussing tables.”

“I guess,” Pacey said.

Joey looked at him for a moment. He really should be happier at the occasion. Pacey Witter who had once sworn he would always be an unambitious townie in a sleepy New England beach town, was now an owner of a reputable business in New York City, yet somehow Joey seemed happier than he did.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Sure, just still have a lot to do,” he said.

Joey nodded.

“You’ll get it done,” Joey said, “and I’ll help. I haven’t lost all of my skills from the Ice House, I hope.”

Pacey gave a small smile, which let Joey to relax.

“Really, I thought you replaced it with all those great novels you studied in college,” he said.

“Well, I have to retain some things. I am a real Renaissance Woman,” Joey mocked.

They both laughed at that, before they lapsed into an easy silence. Joey pursed her lips for a moment.

“I really am proud of you though,” she said finally.

Pacey looked at her for a long moment.

“I would hold on that, you don’t know, this place could go belly up in three weeks,” Pacey said.

She shook her head quickly.

“No, this place is going to be great,” Joey said, “and you deserve it. You really do.”

“Jo…”

Joey stopped him and reached into her bag and pulled out the reason she had stopped by the bar in the first place. A small rectangle box wrapped in maroon paper. Joey had spent the whole week looking for something to give him for the opening of the bar, and though she had gone way over budget, she knew it was perfect.

“Here, I was going to wait until you actually opened, but I just couldn’t help myself,” she said.

Pacey knew better than to argue or refuse, so he took it from her, but not without giving her a disapproving glance. Joey gnawed at her bottom lip and waited for him to unwrap the gift and pull out the sterling silver and black watch that she had picked out at Tiffany’s just the weekend prior.

“This is….”

“The nicest bit of jewelry I have ever bought,” she said, “And yeah, I get that it may be a bit too nice for the proprietor of a working class watering hole as you put it, but you deserve at least something nice and timeless.”

Pacey let out a breath.

“It’s too much really,” he said, “I mean it’s just a bar.”

“No, it’s your bar,” Joey said, “and I’m really glad I got to see it.”

Pacey looked at her for a moment and Joey thought that he was about to say something before he seemed to shrug it off. There was a sort of weight or barrier between them, she thought for a moment. Something unacknowledged. She pushed that thought aside when Pacey just spoke softly in reply.

“Me too.”

  
Joey clutched the watch to her chest. She had felt this too back then. She knew deep down she was fooling herself about this whole situation. She and Pacey hadn’t slept together because it was casual or just to scratch an itch. It could never just be that. She had told him years ago that a kiss between them was never just a kiss.

So much had changed, Joey thought, but not enough.

But Pacey hadn’t said anything, and he was never someone to hold back. If he felt the way she felt now, surely he would have made a move to talk to her about it by now, but he just casually left that morning as if nothing had changed between them.

Joey supposed nothing had, it was just now she had to figure out how to deal with that.

The sound of the stereo from the other room grew louder and Joey groaned before falling back on the bed, still clutching the watch in her hand. Nothing was going to be solved right then. She just needed to think.

Yes, time would do it.

It would have to, Joey couldn’t afford any less.

  
Pacey only texted her once between when he had left Wednesday morning and when he was due to pick her up on Friday. He didn’t mention the watch or the fact that they slept together. Just a simple text asking if she was going to stop by the bar on Thursday. She texted him back that she couldn’t, there were too many chores.

He didn’t respond.

She was almost done with her make up when she heard the raps on the front door.

“Come in, it’s open!” She yelled, while wiping away a flyaway.

Joey tried to focus on touching up and finding something else to give her a reason to stay in the bathroom, but there was nothing to do. She had been a ball of nerves all day and so she had maybe jumped to get ready too quickly.

She did her best to casually breeze into the living room, grabbing the coat she had laid out on the sofa, and put her full focus on greeting Pacey as casually as she could, and not betray that the moment meant any more than that.

“So you want to offer a drink or something?” Pacey asked.

Joey couldn’t say she didn’t panic in the moment. The last thing she needed was for them to be alone in the apartment even if they were going to have to eventually leave.

“The thing starts as eight,” she said.

“Okay, but do we have to be there exactly at eight?” Pacey asked, “it’s not a show, right?”

“No, I just, my boss is expecting me,” she said.

Pacey nodded. Joey pulled on the coat and led Pacey out of the apartment and towards the elevator. There was a tension that was unusual and Joey knew she was at fault for it.

They said nothing while waiting for the elevator and once they entered. Joey slipped her hands in her pocket as she felt the elevator creep downwards. It was only when she felt it that she remembered the watch.

“Oh, ummm…you left this the other day,” Joey said and held out the watch, which Pacey took and turned over in his hand.

“Oh, thanks,” he said.

“Did you realize you’d left it?” Joey asked.

Pacey nodded.

“I did, but—”

Pacey stopped. Obviously he didn’t want to talk about what happened either, so Joey dropped it. Things were fine. It was fine. Maybe she’d overreacted. Pacey probably didn’t view those three nights as anything but they were. If he did, he would have acted on them. Because that is what Pacey did.

The silence and lack of conversation continued on the car ride to the venue, until they stopped at a stop light and Joey suddenly remembered her conversation with Darcy and her roommate’s advice.

“Pacey, about tonight,” Joey started, but paused to glance his way to make sure he was listening.

“Yeah.”

Joey took in a deep breath.

“Under no circumstances are we sleeping together tonight,” she said, and waited for a response.

“Okay.”

Joey continued, not quite believing that that would be the only response.

“I think it would best for us as friends if we didn’t. You know for the sake of us being friends,” she said.

“Whatever you say.”

Joey tried to clamp down on the feeling of disappointment at his response. This was the best case scenario, right? This kept things from getting complicated. They were happy and fine.

Then why did she wish there was something more, why did she want him to disagree? To put up a fight?

Maybe what she was going through a one-sided crush, is all. Sleeping with him had caused her to overthink it.

Just the confirmation that it was all casual and no big deal left her more deflated.

She was pulled from her thoughts when the car stopped at the hotel where the gala or fundraiser or work function was being held. Joey waited by the door while Pacey handed his key to the valet before joining her.

“So what is this for again?” Pacey asked as they entered the ballroom.

“It’s to support literacy programs in the city,” Joey said, “you know, teach people how to read.”

“I know what literacy means,” Pacey quipped, and Joey smiled. The tension was still there but the slight banter put her somewhat at ease.

Joey checked in her coat and then scoured the event.

“Please tell me it’s an open bar,” Pacey said, he looked slightly discomfited. Fancy, upscale things always put him on edge.

“Oh, of course it is.”

Joey turned to see Angela coming up to them.

“Angela,” she said.

“Josephine, glad you made it. Finally there is someone tolerable at this event.”

Joey could swear she felt Pacey’s eyebrow raise at someone calling her by her full name. Joey didn’t bother reminding Angela that they had seen each other just a few hours earlier at work. Rather, she stiffened as she noticed the way that Angela was appraising Pacey next to her.

“And who do we have here?” Angela asked.

“Right, Angela, this is my friend Pacey,” Joey said, “he runs a bar in Midtown. The Waller. You probably haven’t heard of it.”

“Oh, it sounds delightful,” Angela said.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Pacey interjected, “A real hole in the wall. We actually call it The Wall.”

Joey smiled at the name. It had been destiny really, that bar, the name. Maybe that was why Pacey had been so taken by the place when he had first come to town.

“Oh, I am sure it’s a real locale,” Angela said, “Anyways, I’m Angela, Josephine here is my protege.”

“Oh, I know,” Pacey said and then turned to Joey, “I’m going to hit up the bar, do you want the usual?”

“Sure,” Joey replied.

“Anything for you?” Pacey asked Angela. It was only polite.

Angela held up the glass of white wine up, “I’m fine, be sure to check with me later.”

Pacey rattled off a perfectly amiable “nice meeting you” before leaving the two women. Joey felt a tinge of discomfort at the way Angela watched Pacey go. It was foolish, it was nothing, Pacey had been with plenty of women in the intervening years since their break up back in high school. It shouldn’t bother her now.

“You have the most interesting friends,” Angela said, almost as if she was speaking to herself as opposed to Joey directly. She seems to snap out of it and gently brushes a hand up Joey’s arm.

“It is expected we bid on something at the silent auction, I would bid now if you don’t want to win anything,” Angela said before leaving Joey to greet a couple of the executives of Joey’s company that had just walked in.

“She gone?” Pacey asked, before handing Joey the glass of Pinot Grigio.

“Oh, I believe there were more important people to attend too,” Joey said.

“You’re right, she is a character,” Pacey said before taking a sip of his own drink.

“She’s really not that bad,” Joey said, “she’s just going through things.”

Pacey shrugged.

They chatted about everything and nothing. Commenting on some of the more preposterous dresses and outfits. Joey pointing out who the People of Great Importance were. They were desperately trying to bring back some sort of normalcy, Joey knew, the old easiness.

They perused the items up for auctions and Joey understood what Angela meant when she told her to bid now. Most of the items were way out of Joey’s league even when it came to the smaller items. She did however stop at a relatively small painting of the sailboat.

A sailboat that almost looked exactly like—

“Hey Jo, keep it moving,” Pacey said when he almost ran into her. She didn’t respond, and she heard Pacey suck in a breath.

“That looks like—”

Joey waited for Pacey to finish the sentence or saying anything at all. She glanced up at him, and noted how his face had gone blank.

“Yeah,” was all he said and he turned his back, seeming to survey the rest of the crowd.

It’s still a sore spot, she thought to herself. She looked down at the blank sheet in front of the painting for people to write their bids. She took a long look at Pacey before taking a pen and writing down one simple line.

_Joey Potter________ $500.00________

It was probably more than what the painting was worth and definitely more than what she had planned on bidding on anything, but it didn’t matter. Maybe Pacey didn’t want to remember, but she did.

She grabbed her wine and went to rejoin Pacey at a table when she stopped to see him deep in conversation with Angela. She said something and he laughed. She couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“I would keep tabs on your date if I was you, Angela is definitely on, ” Nadine, one of her co-workers remarked as Joey just stood there stupidly watching them like an idiot.

It was too much.

She said nothing to Nadine, but just gulped down the rest of her drink before retreating to the restroom. She sat in a stall for entirely too long than was necessary before resolving to leave before Pacey came looking for her.

It was terrible timing because she came out of the stall to see Angela walking in.

“Oh there you are,” Angela said, “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Joey really doubted she had. Angela didn’t even wait for Joey to respond.

“That friend that you brought, Pacey, he quite charming,” Angela said, “I haven’t had that good of a conversation with a man since, well since before Shawn was born.”

Joey just stared for a moment as she ran her hands under water.

“He’s quite the character,” Joey said, doing her best to put on her best poker face, not wanting to betray the thousand knots tightening in her stomach.

“He isn’t seeing anyone by chance is he?” Angela asked.

Joey wanted to lie and say yes, but that would risk getting back to Pacey who would no doubt have a thousand questions for why she lied about something like that.

“Not that I know of,” Joey said.

“And the two of you aren’t…?”

_No, we aren’t, unless you count us sleeping together three times and refusing to talk about it and the fact that I might still be in love with him only that’s absolutely crazy because we haven’t even been close to getting back together in ten years._ The thought was jumbled in her head, but she managed to not embarrass herself to respond to Angela.

“No, we’re just friends. I mean, used to be, but it has been years. It’s ancient history,” Joey’s words were rushed but Angela seemed to buy it.

“So you wouldn’t mind if I were to, I don’t know, take him off your hands tonight” Angela asked.

Joey shook her head.

“If Pacey is okay with that, then I’m okay with it,” Joey said, even though she was the furthest thing from being okay with it.

“Great!” Angela said, and Joey didn’t register the rest of their chatter. She just walked out of the restroom and made a beeline for the bar.

“Vodka soda please,” She said. Joey hadn’t planned to drink hard liquor but she just needed to drown out everything. The other people in attendance, Angela, Pacey, the intrusive thoughts in her head berating her for basically just pawning off her best friend to her desperate boss.

“Isn’t it a little early for that?”

Joey unintentionally slammed the glass on the counter before looking up at Pacey who was staring at her quizzically.

“I mean it’s an open bar,” Joey said.

Pacey didn’t comment on that.

“Where’ve you been, I’ve been looking all over for you,” Pacey said, “I thought you’d left me here.”

“I was in the restroom,” Joey said.

“Are you okay?” Pacey asked.

Joey did not want to answer that.

“I’m fine,” she then paused, remembering her conversation with Angela and realizing she better acclimate to the idea before turning back to him, “I saw you and Angela talking.”

“Yeah that was like forty five minutes ago,” Pacey said.

“She’s into you,” Joey said.

“Yeah, I gathered that.”

Joey wanted to ask whether the feelings were mutual, so she didn’t, although Pacey didn’t contradict it either and she didn’t know what to make of that.

“Do you want to dance?”

Joey just stared at him in the moment. She should refuse, but technically they were there together, and if she danced with him it would mean he wasn’t with Angela and she just really, _really_ wanted to dance with him.

“Okay,” she said and followed him onto the dance floor. The music was soft and lilting, and Joey was hyper aware of Pacey’s hand on the small of her back. There was a distance though, and for a moment they just swayed to the melody together.

“What are you thinking?” Joey blurted out when she couldn’t take the silence any more.

“What?” Pacey asked.

“I don’t know, you’ve just hardly said a word to me all night,” Joey said, “You just seem somewhere else right now.”

“And you aren’t? If I am not mistaken, you holed up in the restroom for a half an hour,” he said, “Leaving me here alone with these people.”

Joey mouthed a small apology, though he really was overreacting.

“I really want to know,” she said.

“I was thinking I really hate functions like these,” he said.

Joey snorted.

“You didn’t have to come,” she said, “if you had to work the bar or…”

Pacey shook his head.

“You like these things,” he said, as if that finished the conversation.

It was an odd thing to say. Joey had grown accustomed to being a part of these things. It came from working in high end yacht clubs and networking events that she had to do for work or school or something.

“I don’t,” Joey said.

“You fit in here,” he said, “I don’t.”

Joey bit her bottom lip.

“Pacey, these people, this whole event,” she said, “I don’t belong here. I can make myself fit in, but if I had a choice, I would much rather be at your bar.”

“Joey it’s okay, you don’t—”

“I think I do,” Joey cut Pacey off, “I don’t know where you got it in the ahead that everything you’ve done means nothing. You know that the majority of the people here. They are here because their families paid for their Ivy League educations and their jobs are due to being the friend of friend of someone.”

Pacey just stared at his feet.

“None of them has ever come to this city with nothing and worked their, pardon my language, ass off to make something of themselves,” Joey said, “and I include myself in that.”

“You’ve worked hard,” Pacey said.

“Yeah, I did,” Joey said, “but I did it following their rules. You—you’ve forged your own path. I really admire that.”

Joey smiled a bit at the way his cheeks flushed a slight pink at the compliment.

“Pacey, I need you to know—”

Joey was interrupted by huff and they both stopped and turned to Angela who was smiling at them both.

“Do you mind if I cut in?” Angela asked.

It was automatic and something that Joey would kick herself later for, but she stepped away and gave Angela the most genuine smile she could, not even turning to Pacey to gage his reaction.

“Of course not,” Joey said, and just shrugged at Pacey’s confused look, but he didn’t refuse and Joey walked away, doing her best to remain straight and poised.

She thought about ordering another drink, but she didn’t really want to be drunk. She couldn’t drown away sorrows that she was responsible for making. Instead, she did her best to try and greet and chat with other people from work and who she knew, trying desperately not to stare at Pacey and Angela on the dance floor.

She was relieved when the music stopped for the announcement of the winners of the silent auction. Joey had almost forgotten she had bid on anything until time that the winner of the painting was announced.

“And this charming, one of a kind, painting entitled ‘My Lady and the Sea’ by Arnaldo Perreira goes to for the price of Five Hundred Dollars, Joey Potter.”

Joey stilled at her name. She saw Pacey staring at her strangely, but she hastily looked away. When she looked back, Pacey was whispering something into Angela’s ear and Joey felt her spirits drop. She had to leave.

She quickly made her way to the hosts table to write out the check and fill out the address card for the painting, before going to the concierge to receive her coat.

With that done, she made her way to the street, and held up her hand to hail a cab.

“Joey!”

At first, she didn’t turn, but when Pacey shouted it again, she did.

“Pacey…”

“Joey, what are you doing?” Pacey asked, his voice a slight huff from running up after her.

“I’m calling a cab,” she said.

“You were just going to leave me here?” he asked.

“Well, you were with—”

“Never mind,” Pacey said, “Come on, let’s go.”

She let him drag her back to the valet booth to wait for his car.

“You were having a good time with Angela, I just thought—” she tried to explain but Pacey wasn’t having any of it.

“Joey, this was your work function. We came here together, and we’re going to leave together,” he said.

Joey didn’t have a response to that.

The valet was surprisingly quick with the car, and Pacey guided Joey to the passenger seat. Joey flinched at the slamming of the door.

He wasn’t happy, and she couldn’t blame him.

The air in the car was thick as they drove back to Joey’s place. Joey tried to break the ice.

“I’m sorry, I just thought that you and Angela were hitting it off,” she said, “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“You could have mentioned something,” Pacey said, “and we weren’t hitting it off. I was making nice because she’s your boss.”

“Oh.”

“Joey, did you bring me here to set me up with your boss?” Pacey asked.

Joey just stared at the license plate of the car in front of them.

“No, I just…she seemed into you and I know it’s been awhile for you.”

Joey couldn’t miss the grimace on Pacey’s face.

“And Angela’s great. She’s smart and older, it’s not like you don’t have a history with that.”

Pacey shook his head at that.

“Joey, come on—”

“Sorry,” Joey said again, realizing that it was a bit of a low blow, “I just meant that if you wanted to it would have been fine.”

Pacey remained silent and Joey watched as he pulled into a space on the side of the road and got out. They were still about a block away from Joey’s building and Joey did her best to run in her heels to catch up with him.

“Pacey—”

“Do you want me to sleep with your boss?” Pacey asked, stopping just short of the entrance to Joey’s building.

Joey stammered and Pacey just shook his head.

“I mean, if you wanted to,” she said feebly.

Pacey muttered something about coming to regret something before turning back to her.

“Forget what I want, Joey, what do you want. Be honest, did you want me to sleep with your boss?” He repeated.

Joey froze, she looked down with a sigh. She couldn’t lie.

“No,” she said.

Pacey nodded.

“Why?”

Joey looked up at him.

“What?”

“Why don’t you want me to sleep with your boss. Because you’re right, I could have, and you made it abundantly clear earlier in the night that—” Pacey stopped himself.

Joey held up her hands.

“Because it would be weird. I mean, she’s my boss and you’re…” she automatically braced herself for what was coming next, “you’re my ex.”

It was like they were both stunned at that. Joey had never thought of Pacey as her ex. Sure, they had broken up all those years ago, and there had been the few months following where they had taken distance from each other, but then they had come back together and were just friends as if that is what they had always been. The designation, even if true, stung.

“I see…” Pacey said, and seemed to tap his one hand in his palm.

“I mean, there’s also the fact that we slept together two days ago and two other times,” Joey said, “ and we haven’t talked about it, so it would be awkward for you to hook up with my boss.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to talk about it,” Pacey said.

Joey looked at him for a moment.

“Of course I didn’t,” Joey said, “I mean we just slept together without any thought and it’s crazy. We haven’t been together since…”

She tried to formulate the words to fit what she wanted to say, and Pacey wasn’t helping by the way he just looked at her.

“I mean it’s absurd, Pacey, one doesn’t just get back together with their high school boyfriend.”

“They do if it’s right.”

Joey could have sworn her heart stopped. The weight of his words hit her like a freight train.

“And you think we’re right?” she asked.

Pacey shrugged, and she could tell despite his calm composure, there was something simmering underneath that Joey could not place. A feeling that Joey wondered if it was new or had always been there.

“Well you know me, I’ve always been a big fan of us,” he said.

Joey gave a small huff, mostly in disbelief. She understood the implication of what he was saying, but she didn’t want to believe; she couldn’t believe it.

“How long have you felt this way?”

She wanted him to say that he only felt this way since they first slept together or maybe in the last year. Anything to make her feel less like a dolt.

“Ten years.”

Joey gulped, but she was tired of holding things in. How could he? It all clicked into place. Why Pacey had come to New York in the first place when no one else he knew was. The way he’d always come no questions asked if she called.

She knew he wasn’t lying, but she had to protest.

“Ten years? Pacey we broke up ten years ago! I’ve seen other people, you’ve seen other people!” Joey said, her world was spinning and she wished she could say it was due to the alcohol she consumed and not the absolute upturn that her world had just become.

“Yeah, well none of that seemed to stick, did it,” he said.

“So us sleeping together that was…” she said.

“That was me taking what I could get,” Pacey said and then sensing Joey’s turmoil he pushed on, “Listen, it’s fine Jo. I don’t expect anything. I didn’t even mean for you to find out. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just an idiot ok, just forget it.”

He moved to walk past her and Joey knew in that moment that if she let him walk away that nothing would go back to the way it was or where she now knew she wanted to go.

She was just barely able to grab his wrist.

“Pacey, wait,” she said and he stopped and looked at her.

“Jo.”

“I can’t forget,” she said, “I should have realized sooner. I’m sorry.”

“I told you—”

“No, Pacey. That isn’t it. I didn’t notice because I always assumed,” Joey smacked her lips to let out some of the nerves, “It’s not that I don’t feel the same way. It’s not about how I feel, but acting on them. I always assumed you would make the first move when it was time.”

Pacey looked down and Joey smiled at the nervous way he shifted.

“The thing is, I just, I am not as confident as you think I am. I wanted to be ready, to know that I had done everything I needed to do, that I became who I was meant to be,” she could hear the rush in her voice, and she didn’t know if she was being clear.

“You make such a big thing about how everyone else is better than you and that you don’t belong in my world,” she said, “but it was never like that Pacey. You never needed to prove yourself to me. You don’t need to fit in to ‘my’ world. I need to deserve to be a part of yours.”

“Joey.”

“I love you, Pace, I do,” she said, “It’s why I bought that painting tonight. It’s why I’m at your bar every night almost. And it’s why I got so freaked out by us sleeping together. And I realized that I’ve put this off too long. There is no perfect me who’ll be ready, and we aren’t in separate worlds, Pacey. For the longest time when it comes to me, it’s just been you.”

He was close to her now, she could smell his cologne, almost feel the pace of his heart. It matched the beat of her own.

“So what are you going to do now, Jo?”

“The only thing I can do,” Joey said; she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned up, kissing him fully, wholly.

She smiled as she felt his arms tightened around her, and she revelled in how he felt like home.

When they broke apart, Pacey rested his forehead against hers. Joey had to keep herself from laughing, so brimming with the joy of the moment.

“Pacey,” she said when she gained enough composure to speak though she did not pull away.

“Yes?”

“I meant what I said earlier,” she said, “We are not going to sleep together tonight.”

Pacey smiled.

“But,” Joey said, patting one hand against his chest, “If you want to come up and keep me company for a little longer…”

Pacey leaned in again and just before their lips met he said:

“I think I can do that.”

  
“What is that racket?”

Joey giggled, her fingers on the bar’s stereo system as Pacey rounded the corner from the back of the bar. The music pounding through the dining and bar area was not what Joey personally cared for, with its heavy beats and overly synthesized guitar, but it was guaranteed to get the best reaction.

“What are you doing back here,” Pacey asked, stomping over to her and pushing the off button on the stereo.

“I’m just trying out a new sound for the bar,” Joey said.

“And who said you could do that?” Pacey asked.

“Miguel let me in,” Joey said and smiled at Miguel, Pacey’s assistant manager, who was arranging condiments out on the floor. Pacey looked at him and he just shrugged.

“More like you bullied him to let you in,” Pacey said.

“I’m very convincing,” she said.

“Uh huh, you know you shouldn’t be back here. Last time I checked, you Joey Potter, are not on my payroll,” Pacey said, “I wouldn’t want to lose my liquor license for this.”

“I know for a fact that you had your surprise inspection last week,” Joey said.

Pacey shook his head, not able to hide the smile at all. It was a game. A game that eventually he would let her win.

He looked to the side and it was then that he noticed the other change that Joey had made. In a simple wooden frame with white padding, the painting of the sailboat (Joey liked to think it was the True Love, Pacey just admonished her for spending too much on it) and the candid photograph she had taken of him before the bar opened rested in the center, to where no patron would be able to miss it.

Pacey grew quiet at that.

“Jo—”

“I think it adds character,” Joey said, “besides, it’s okay to look at the past fondly.”

Pacey said nothing, and Joey in the instant trying to bring the mood back up.

“Okay, so that music didn’t work, how about this?”

She pressed another button and smiled as the first few bars of Stevie Wonder’s _Signed, Sealed Delivered_ began to play.

“Okay, that’s it.”

Pacey moved towards her, but instead of turning off the music he wrapped his arms around Joey’s waist and lifted her up. Joey laughed and squirmed while he carried her out to the dining room before putting her down. Joey did not fail to notice that he did not let her go.

She turned around and smiled proudly up at him as the song continued.

“Whatever am I to do with you, Potter,” Pacey said, his head cocked to the side.

Joey brushed her hands up his chest until they wrapped around his neck., and mimicked his expression.

“I don’t know…. love me?”

She smiled as his arms tightened the embrace and he leaned down dipping her lower.

“Gladly.”

And Joey thought, though not for the first time, that things were exactly how they should be.

_Here I am baby,_   
_Ah, you've got the future in your hand_   
_(Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours)_

**Author's Note:**

> You can find more and talk to me @kayromantique on Twitter and @kayromantic on Tumblr.


End file.
